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PHE1CHEI) IX THE 

HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

WASHINGTON CITY, MARCH 3, 1822; 

OCCASIONED I) V THE 

DEATH OF THE HON. WM. PINKNEY, 

1ATE A MEMBER OF THE SENATE O? THE ONITED STATES. 



V 
BY JARED SPARKS, A. M. 

Minister of the First Independent Church of Baltimore; and Chaplain 
to the House of Representatives in Congress. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



SECOND EDITION. \ 



Baltimore: 

PUBLISHED BY THE BALTIMOBE UNITAMAN BOOK SOCIETI. 

^.« Sold by 

F. Lucas, Jr. & JV. G. Maxwell, Market-st. 

JOHN D. TOT, PRINTED, 

1822. 



\ 



ADVERTISEMENT. 






It is proper to premise, that the following 
Sermon was not intended as a funeral dis- 
course, nor written with a view to publication. 
The death of so distinguished a man as Mil. 
PINKNEY, made a strong impression on the 
public mind, and it was thought a suitable 
occasion on the Sabbath following to dwell on 
some of the topics, and impress some of the 
truths, which were in harmony with the feel- 
ings so recently excited by this melancholy 
event. The author hopes, that the reflections 
into which he was led, may not be unaccepta- 
ble nor unprofitable even to some, who took 
no part in the temporary excitement of the 
occasion. Yet he has no disposition to obtrude 
them on unwilling hearers; and if any apology 
be necessary, it must be found in the partiality 
of his friends, at whose solicitation he suffers 
this discourse to go before the public. 



3: 



Man dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the 
ghost, and where is he? — Job. xiv. 10. 

There are few events, either in the course 
of nature or of society, which may not contri- 
bute to our instruction and improvement. All 
the works of God are teaching us useful les- 
sons, unfolding some new treasures of wisdom 
and affording kindly aids to the best efforts of 
men to strengthen the intellect, refine the 
feelings, amend the heart. Such are the ways 
of Providence, the wise, the inscrutable dis- 
position of things. Every vicissitude in the 
divine government presents a lesson for our 
benefit. We learn wisdom by experience; 
trials improve our tempers; sufferings subdue 
our passions; disappointments moderate our 



6 

desires. All the incidents of life teach us to 
live better and happier; and especially such in- 
cidents, as are calculated to enlist the feelings, 
stir up the affections, and rouse us from the 
slumbers of a false security. 

No object is so insignificant, no event so tri- 
vial, as not to carry with it a moral and reli- 
gious influence. The trees that spring out of 
the earth are moralists. They are emblems of 
the life of man. They grow up; they put on 
the garments of freshness and beauty. Yet 
these continue but for a time, decay seizes upon 
the root and the trunk, and they gradually go 
back to their original elements. The blossoms 
that open to the rising sun, but are closed at 
night, never to open again, are moralists. The 
seasons are moralists, teaching the lessons of 
wisdom, manifesting the wonders of the Crea- 
tor, and calling on man to reflect on his condi- 
tion and destiny. History is a perpetual mo- 
ralist, disclosing the annals of past ages, show- 
ing the impotency of pride and greatness, the 
weakness of human power, the folly of human 
wisdom. The daily occurrences in society are 
moralists. The success or failure of enter- 



prize, the prosperity of the bad, the adversity 
of the good, the disappointed hopes of the san- 
guine and active, the sufferings of the virtuous, 
the caprices of fortune in every condition of 
life;, all these are fraught with moral instruc- 
tions, and if properly applied, will fix the 
power of religion in the heart. 

But there is a greater moralist still; and that 
is, Death. Here is a teacher, who speaks in a 
voice, which none can mistake; who comes with 
a power, which none can resist. Since we last 
assembled in this place, as the humble and 
united worshippers of God, this stern messen- 
ger, this mysterious agent of Omnipotence, has 
come among our numbers, and laid his wither- 
ing hand on one, whom we have been taught 
to honour and respect, whose fame was a na- 
tion's boast, whose genius was a brilliant spark 
from the etherial fire, whose attainments were 
equalled only by the grasp of his intellect, the 
profoundness of his judgment, the exuberance 
of his fancy, the magic of his eloquence. 

It is not my present purpose to ask your at- 
tention to any picture drawn in the studied 
phrase of eulogy. I aim not to describe the 



8 

commanding powers and the eminent qualities, 
which conducted the deceased to the superior- 
ity he held, and which were at once the admi- 
ration and the pride of his countrymen. I 
shall not attempt to analyze his capacious mind, 
nor to set forth the richness and variety of its 
treasures. The trophies of his genius are a 
sufficient testimony of these, and constitute a 
monument to his memory, which will stand firm 
and conspicuous amidst the faded recollections 
of future ages. The present is not the time 
to recount the sources or the memorials of his 
greatness. He is gone. The noblest of hea- 
ven's gifts could not shield even him from the 
arrows of the destroyer. And this behest of 
the Most High is a warning summons to us 
all. When death comes into our doors, we 
ought to feel that he is near. When his 
irreversible sentence falls on the great and 
the renowned, when he severs the strongest 
bonds, which can bind mortals to earth, we 
ought to feel that our own hold on life is 
slight, that the thread of existence is slen- 
der, that we walk amidst perils, where the 
next wave in the agitated sea of life may baffle 



9 

all our struggles, and carry us back into the 
dark bosom of the deep. 

Let us employ the present season in a few 
reflections on the solemn event to which we 
have alluded. Let us dwell for a few mo- 
ments on some of the sentiments and feelings, 
which it ought to revive. We cannot bring 
the dead back to life. We can do nothing for 
them. They are beyond the reach of mortal 
power. But we may do something for our- 
selves. What has happened to them must 
happen to us; and their departure, if we will 
not be too deaf to hear, sounds to us, and 
loudly sounds, the solemn note of prepara- 
tion. What effect, then, should this breach, 
which has been made in our numbers, have 
upon us, who still remain? 

I. In the first place, it should impress us 
with the vanity of human things, and show 
us the folly of limiting our thoughts, and 
chaining our affections to this world. 

When we look at the monuments of human 
greatness, and the powers of human intellect, 
all that genius has invented, or skill executed, 
or wisdom matured, or industry achieved, or 



10 

labour accomplished; when we trace these 
through the successive gradations of human 
advancement, what are they? On these are 
founded the pride, glory, dignity of man. 
And what are they? Compared with the 
most insignificant work of God, they are 
nothing, less than nothing. The mightiest 
works of man are daily and hourly becoming 
extinct. The boasted theories of religion, 
morals, government, which took the wisdom, 
the ingenuity of ages to invent, have been 
proved to be shadowy theories only. Genius 
has wasted itself in vain. The visions it 
raised, have vanished at the touch of truth. 
Nothing is left but the melancholy certainty, 
that all things human are imperfect, and must 
fail and decay. And man himself, whose 
works are so fragile, where is he? The his- 
tory of his works is the history of himself. 
He existed; he is gone. 

The nature of human life cannot be more 
forcibly described, than in the beautiful lan- 
guage of eastern poetry, which immediately 
precedes the text. ''Man, that is born of a 
woman, is of few days and full of trouble. 



11 

He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut 
down; he fleeth also as a shadow and continu- 
eth not. There is hope of a tree, if it be cut 
down, that it will sprout again, and that the 
tender branch thereof will not cease. Though 
the root thereof wax old in the earth, and 
the stock thereof die in the ground; yet 
through the scent of water it will bud and 
bring forth boughs like a plant. But man 
wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, 
and where is he?" Such are the striking 
emblems of human life. Such is the end of 
all, that is mortal in man. And what a ques- 
tion is here for us all to reflect upon! "Man 
giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" 

Yes, when we see the flower of life fade 
on its stalk, and all its comeliness depart, and 
all its freshness wither; when we see the 
bright eye grow dim, and the rose on the 
cheek lose its hue; when we hear the voice 
faltering its last accents, and see the energies 
of nature paralyzed; when we perceive the 
beams of intelligence growing fainter and 
fainter on the countenance, and the last gleam 
of life extinguished; when we deposit all that 



12 

is mortal of a fellow being in the dark cold 
chamber of the .grave, and drop a pitying 
tear at a spectacle so humiliating, so mourn- 
ful: then let us put the solemn question to our 
own souls, Where is he? His body is con- 
cealed in the earth, but where is the spirit? 
Where is the intellect, that could look through 
the works of God, and catch inspiration from 
the divinity, which animates and pervades the 
whole? Where the powers that could com- 
mand, the attractions that could charm; 
where the boast of humanity, wisdom, learn- 
ing, wit, eloquence, the pride of skill, the 
mystery of art, the creations of fancy, the bril- 
liancy of thought; where the virtues that 
could win, and the gentleness that could 
soothe; where the mildness of temper, the 
generous affections, the benevolent feelings, 
all that is great and good, all that is noble, 
and lovely, and pure in the human charac- 
ter, — where are these? They are gone. We 
can see nothing. The eye of faith only can 
dimly penetrate the region to which they have 
fled. Lift the eye of faith; follow the light of 
the gospel; and let your delighted vision be 



13 

lost in the glories of the immortal world. 
Behold, there, the spirits of the righteous 
dead rising up into newness of life, gather- 
ing brightness and strength, unencumbered 
by the weight of mortal clay, and mortal sor- 
rows, enjoying a happy existence, and per- 
forming the holy service of their Maker. 

But let not the visions of faith deceive us 
away from the reality. What we shall be 
hereafter, we cannot know. To die the death 
of the righteous is our only security. To be 
prepared for this death is our chief concern. 

II Again, the instance of mortality, which 
we have witnessed, should cause us to reflect 
on the certainty of death. 

If we were as thoughtful as we ought to be, 
we should need no admonition of a truth so 
obvious and trite as this. The undeviating 
ways of God in his providence, bear testimo- 
ny to the declaration, that it is "appointed 
unto all men once to die." But we are not 
thoughtful. We suffer the interests of the 
world to absorb every other. Although none 
of us has so far lost his reason, as even to 
flatter himself, that he shall not die; yet how 



14 

do we live? Like Job, we all know, that God 
"will bring us to death, and to the house ap- 
pointed for all living;" but what influence 
does a truth so awful and impressive have on 
our thoughts, feelings, characters? We are 
apt to talk and think of death, as if it were a 
thing, with which we have no intimate con- 
cern; an evil, which befals others and to be 
lamented, but which is not likely to overtake 
us, nor to interrupt our worldly schemes. We 
treat death as a stranger, an unwelcome in- 
truder, on whom we have no time to bestow 
attention, and whom we desire to shun. 

But why this backwardness, this aversion 
to become familiar with an idea, which we 
know must be realized? We charge ourselves 
with folly and imprudence, if we undertake 
any enterprise without thought and prepara- 
tion. We are thoughtful of our most trivial 
gratifications; we are provident of all the 
means of enjoyment and pleasure; we delibe- 
rate with the utmost caution on every thing, 
which is likely to affect our earthly condition. 
But when we come to the great change, which 
is to make us beings of another world, to fix 



15 

our eternal destiny, and to bring us trembling 
criminals before the throne of a holy and per- 
fect God, we are then supine, indifferent, care- 
less, blind. How strange is the inconsistency, 
the infatuation of man! How little does he 
know himself, and yet what a wretched use 
does he make of this knowledge, imperfect 
as it is! Let us be more wise; and when we 
see those, who stand by our sides, sinking 
around us almost without a warning, and 
taking their flight to the land of spirits, never 
to return, may we heed the admonition, and 
feel that the way is preparing for us, in which 
we must soon follow. 

III. Death should be allowed to awaken 
the sympathy, and put in exercise the pious 
affections, and tender feelings of the living. 
In other words, it is right that we should 
mourn for the dead. Nature teaches us this 
lesson. The gospel, and the example of Christ 
confirm it. 

There has been from early times, it is true, 
a rude and ungracious philosophy in the 
world, which is at war with this consoling 
dictate of nature. But this is nothing more, 



16 

than the pride of selfishness contending against 
the purest and most elevated principles of the 
mind. If there be philosophers who desire 
no support but the lofty resolutions and stern 
stoicism of their own minds, they are not to 
be envied. If there be others, who never 
yield to the tide of misfortune, whose hearts 
are too hard to be pierced with the darts of 
sorrow, they are not to be envied. We do 
not believe happiness consists in a struggle to 
get the mastery of our most refined affections. 
This is not human nature. It is the unna- 
tural growth of passions tutored to pervert 
their office, and sink the tone and character 
of the mind below its native standard. 

There is no fortitude, no magnanimity, in 
the hardness of heart, which refuses the 
tear of sympathy and mournful remembrance 
to flow, when a fellow-being is called from 
life; when our fondest attachments are se- 
vered, and the ties of our dearest friendships 
are torn in sunder; when a gloom is thrown 
over the bright visions of hope, and the whole 
world seems a wilderness, a boundless waste, 
without one green spot to revive our droop- 



17 

ing spirits. When we look around us, and 
see the trophies of death, and behold among 
them all that we most highly valued and che- 
rished, it is not in human nature to resist these 
calls on the sensibility of the soul. God ex- 
pects no such testimonies of our fortitude, as 
will destroy the holiest sympathies of our na- 
ture. Let no one call that weakness, which 
stirs up the fountains of sorrow, sinks deeply 
into the heart, and causes a tear to fall on the 
grave of the lamented dead. Let no one call 
that weakness, unless he would blot out the 
light of heavenly peace, and mar the image 
of God within him; unless he would take from 
the mind its divinest graces, and from the 
heart its most amiable virtues and liveliest 
joys; unless he would destroy the most re- 
fined pleasures and the sweetest charities of 
life, and extinguish the principles, which con- 
tribute to humanize our natures, and to fit us 
for heaven. 

IV. Death is a monitor, which should make 
us reflect on the excellence and value of our 
religion, as revealed in the gospel. 
3 



18 

It is here, and here only, that life and im- 
mortality are brought to light. It is here, 
that we are taught the certainty of a future 
life. In the gospel we learn, that the spirit, 
which constitutes our present existence, will 
live throughout all future ages. How infi- 
nitely is our condition improved, in this res- 
pect, by the religion of the Saviour! We 
know, that we are living for eternity. The 
God of all truth has told us so. How full of 
consolation is this assurance, when our friends 
depart from us, and the places, which have 
known them in this world, shall know them 
no more. How could our sinking spirits be 
supported in many of the trials, which a 
christian is called to endure, if we had no 
hope beyond the grave? 

The promises of the gospel will never fail. 
The truths, which have been revealed from 
heaven, published by divine wisdom, and es- 
tablished by the miracles of Christ, will stand 
as firm as the pillars of the universe, or the 
throne of Omnipotence. Such truths inspire 
a confidence, which no vicissitude of time 
can destroy. The pious mind will make it 



19 

the anchor of safety, and render thanksgiv- 
ing to God for the manifestations of his love, 
in disclosing the prospects of a future world, 
where all cares shall cease to trouble, where 
the righteous shall dwell in peace and happi- 
ness, and where all voices shall join in songs 
of praise and adoration to the High and Holy 
One, whose presence fills the heavens. 

To prepare men for death is the object of 
the religion, which God commissioned his Son 
to publish and preach. For the accomplish- 
ment of this important purpose, Jesus taught, 
and suffered, and died; for this, was he em- 
powered from heaven to prove the truth and 
divinity of his doctrines; for this did he sub- 
mit to a life of privation, want and pain, en- 
dure the reproaches of a scornful world, the 
tortures of wicked men, the pangs of expiring 
nature on the cross: for this was he raised from 
the dead, and taken in glorious triumph to the 
heavens; and for this does he still continue 
to be our mediator and intercessor with the 
Father of all mercies. For this were the apos- 
tles, according to his promise, endowed with 
the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and enabled to 



20 

teach with power and conviction the truths, 
which they had learned from their divine 
master. In Christ, "the grace of God, which 
hringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all 
men.*' He came to "redeem us from iniqui- 
ty," to restore us to the favour and holy ser- 
vice of God. All the glorious displays of 
divine wisdom and power, which were mani- 
fested in his life and doctrines, were designed 
as means to remove the stains of sin, to take 
away the debasement of moral depravity, to 
disarm death of its terrors, and to fit the soul 
for that untried state of being, which must be 
experienced in the ages yet to come. 

Shall we not turn our minds to heaven in 
humble adoration and joyful praise to the 
Almighty, for his great goodness and mercy, 
in providing these means of our future safety 
and well being? Shall we not lift up our 
thoughts with unfeigned reverence, love, and 
gratitude to the Saviour of men, for what 
he has done and suffered to execute the high 
commission of his Father, to redeem our souls 
from guilt, reconcile us to God, and make 
plain the way of salvation to a sinful world? 



81 

And above all, shall we not show the reality 
of our faith, the sincerity of our professions, 
and our deep sense of obligation, by adhering 
to the precepts, and obeying the sacred com- 
mands of Jesus, by following, with all hu- 
mility, zeal, and piety, his purifying example, 
by imbibing his spirit, and cultivating his tem- 
per? It is a declaration equally reasonable, 
solemn, and certain, that "without holiness no 
man shall see the Lord." The religion of 
the Redeemer, if we will embrace it in its 
truth, and accept its conditions, will make us 
holy, and qualify us to see the Lord, and 
dwell for ever in the presence of his glory. 

Let our reflections on death have a weighty 
and immediate influence on our own minds 
and characters. We cannot be too soon, nor 
too entirely prepared to render the account, 
which we must all render to our Maker and 
judge. All things earthly must fail us. The 
riches, power, possessions, and gifts of the 
world will vanish from our sight; friends and 
relatives will be left behind; our present sup- 
port will be taken away; our strength will be- 
come weakness; and the earth itself, and all its 



/ 






pomps, and honors, and attractions, will dis- 
appear. Why have we been spared even till 
this time? We know not why, nor yet can we 
say that a moment is our own. The summons 
for our departure may now be recorded in the 
book of heaven. The angel may now be on 
his way to execute his solemn commission. 
Death may already have marked us for his 
victims. But whether sooner or later, the 
event will be equally awful, and demand the 
same preparation. 

One, only, will then be our rock and our 
safety. The kind Parent, who has upheld 
us all our days, will remain our unfailing 
support. With him is no change. He is 
unmoved from age to age; his mercy, as 
well as his being, endures for ever; and if 
we rely on him, and live in obedience to 
his laws, all tears shall be wiped from our 
eyes, and all sorrow banished from our hearts. 
If we are rebels to his cause, slaves to vice, 
and followers of evil, we must expect the dis- 
pleasure of a Holy God, the just punishment 
of our folly and wickedness; for a righteous 



23 

retribution will be awarded to the evil as 
well as the good. 

Let it be the highest, the holiest, the uncea- 
sing concern of each one of us to live the life, 
that we may be prepared to die the death of the 
righteous; that when they, who come after uc, 
shall ask, Where is he? — unnumbered voices 
shall be raised to testify, that, although his 
mortal remains are mouldering in the cold 
earth, his memory is embalmed in the cherish- 
ed recollections of many ; d, who knew 
and loved him; and all shall say," with tokens of 
joy and confident belief, — If God be just, and 
piety be rewarded, his pure spirit is now at 
rest in the regions of the blessed. 



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